First report on European-wide veterinary antibiotics sales and use published

7 April 2025

The first report on European-wide sales and use of antimicrobials has been published by the European Medicines Agency, marking a significant milestone in the surveillance of antimicrobial use in animals.

The report brings together, for the first time, data on antimicrobial use from all 27 EU Member States, along with Iceland and Norway, with data reported individually for cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys, allowing for more granular information on usage by species.

It follows a change in the legal framework governing veterinary medicines in the European Union (EU), in which collection of data on veterinary antimicrobial sales and use became mandatory for all Member States. A new platform has been designed to standardise and streamline data collection from all countries.

In 2023, most (98%) antibiotic sales were for food-producing animals, with the remaining 1.6% allocated to other animals, primarily companion animals. For companion animals, tablets were the highest selling product form, accounting for 91% of the total antimicrobial sales for animals in this category, and penicillins were the highest selling antimicrobial class, followed by 1st- and 2nd-generation cephalosporins and imidazole derivatives. Veterinarians played a key role in collecting data, and were the sole data providers in 16 reporting countries.

A target of a 50% reduction in overall EU sales of antimicrobials for farmed animals and in aquaculture by 2030 was set from a baseline in 2018, and encouragingly, sales figures for 2023 show that approximately half of this target has already been achieved.

This first report marks the beginning of regular yearly reports that will help to identify trends in antimicrobial consumption in animals more accurately and enable decision-makers to address antimicrobial resistance and protect both animal and human health in Europe.

Read the report here.

Access the BSAVA/SAMSoc Guide to Responsible Use of Antibiotics: ‘PROTECT ME’ resources, including poster, online supporting information and ‘no antibiotic required’ form here.